Hi Guys,
I was just checking out “Whethefakawe’s” article on the bike squad. Brought back a pile of memories!! I was in the bike squad in 1980 to 1981. 60 of us started the second phase training and by the time we got to Swaspes which was at Oshivello in those days, there were 20 of us left. We trained on the old Honda XL 350 tanks, which apart from riding on the odd occasion, we pushed many miles. Oshivello was at the entrance to Avambo-land next to the Etosha Pan. We were then moved to Otavi to build the new Swaspes camp.
After a couple of months at Otavi, 10 of us got bikes (the old double shock Honda XR 500) and were sent to Oshigambo, which was the ops camp to the east of Ondangwa. Apart from a short trip to Tsintsabis to chase nasties, we stayed there till we klaared out at the end of 1981.
We had a great time doing pretty much what we felt like. It really was a long, paid, holiday. To the nuns from the Swedish mission on the bus route nearby, we must have seamed like the troop from hell as we roared by them beating along the thick sandy road in their VW Beetle!
Possibly the only local with fond memories of us is Lydia. Lydia owned the Kuka shop ± 5 km away from camp. She had a fridge, so the Windhoek quarts were always cold. We spent many a day on her verandah drinking cold Windhoeks and spending an inordinate amount of our R60 allowance there!
When we were there only one of us was unlucky enough to get shot, luckily not seriously. But, one of our Ou-manne set off a hand-mine with his bike.
Herewith are some pics.
Thanks for the memories!
I was just checking out “Whethefakawe’s” article on the bike squad. Brought back a pile of memories!! I was in the bike squad in 1980 to 1981. 60 of us started the second phase training and by the time we got to Swaspes which was at Oshivello in those days, there were 20 of us left. We trained on the old Honda XL 350 tanks, which apart from riding on the odd occasion, we pushed many miles. Oshivello was at the entrance to Avambo-land next to the Etosha Pan. We were then moved to Otavi to build the new Swaspes camp.
After a couple of months at Otavi, 10 of us got bikes (the old double shock Honda XR 500) and were sent to Oshigambo, which was the ops camp to the east of Ondangwa. Apart from a short trip to Tsintsabis to chase nasties, we stayed there till we klaared out at the end of 1981.
We had a great time doing pretty much what we felt like. It really was a long, paid, holiday. To the nuns from the Swedish mission on the bus route nearby, we must have seamed like the troop from hell as we roared by them beating along the thick sandy road in their VW Beetle!
Possibly the only local with fond memories of us is Lydia. Lydia owned the Kuka shop ± 5 km away from camp. She had a fridge, so the Windhoek quarts were always cold. We spent many a day on her verandah drinking cold Windhoeks and spending an inordinate amount of our R60 allowance there!
When we were there only one of us was unlucky enough to get shot, luckily not seriously. But, one of our Ou-manne set off a hand-mine with his bike.
Herewith are some pics.
Thanks for the memories!
